– Spoiler Review –
With Krrsish’s growing unrest testing the current crop of initiates like never before, will Jedi Master Yoda find a way to quell the Wookiee’s roar or will he be too late? Find out in our review of Yoda #5!
The trio of Padawans in Krrsish the Wookiee, Gheyr the Transdoshan, and Jaz’kin the Togorian left me instantly intrigued, not only for the unusual friendship of a Wookiee and a Transdoshan, but for how writer Jody Houser has already made them so relatable, while I’m forever grateful it means this story is centered on non-humans. Krrsish’s unfortunate visions of Wookiees and Transdoshan’s in conflict have driven a wedge between him and his friends, one only getting deeper as Gheyr is now front and center of his vision. Dooku’s advice to withhold the information from his friends and even Yoda, thanks to his biased past with Jedi who have visions due to how the Order treated his friend Sifo Dyas, has only exacerbated the wedge, though thankfully Yoda picks up on this and talks with the young Wookiee. He doesn’t fully open to Yoda, like Dooku suggested, first saying the waves of feelings Yoda’s picking up must be coming from a different Padawan and later asking if it could be Gheyr given the two species’ history, which is where Yoda reveals what the opening flashback shows us: after a massive battle between Wookiees and Transdoshans, Yoda’s called in by the Wookiees because they found something rather peculiar, a Force sensitive Transdoshan youngling aka Gheyr! Yoda reminds him Gheyr is here thanks to his kind, not in spite, and encourages him to be friends again in a roundabout way but highlighting how the Force works through all of us.
There’s some good narration here, as Krrsish apologies with a hug, that Yoda knows the best way to see the Padawans grow is to let them make their own choices, otherwise they’ll always rely on someone else and be children. It’s a good way to contrast Dooku’s method’s last issue, as he makes the choice for Krrsish by telling him not to open up to others, to trust in the Force for showing him this vision and only him said vision, making him rely on the elder Jedi’s advice once again. Before Dooku leaves, Krrsish’s still having the visions despite trying to make amends, he rushes to gain the Count’s advice again. Whereas Yoda’s promoted Krrsish to embrace Gheyr, Dooku’s advice is to take the vision as a warning, to prepare, wait, and watch to see if anything looks to be building toward what he’s seen, once again taking the choice away from Krrsish and enforcing his own ideas on the young Wookiee. These words play over not a hug, but Krrsish keeping his eye on Gheyr as they grow together, eventually building their lightsabers like the one he’s seen Gheyr hold in his vision. Yoda gives Krrsish the choice to do what he wants, prompting him to trust in the Force, and while Dooku also prompts him to trust in the Force for showing him this vision, he makes a choice for him, how to react, and it shows the growing chasm in viewpoints and decisions between old friends Yoda and Dooku without making them the main characters. This all sort of reminds me of the Legends novel Kenobi, where Obi-Wan isn’t the main character though we learn a lot about him through his interactions with our POV characters (there are meditation moments in his POV, almost like with Yoda here), and I’m curious if Houser can stick the landing with this idea in the final issue of her arc next month; if these first two are anything to go by, I believe she will.
Yoda takes the initiate clan Tibidee, which includes our three main Padawans, on a trial to a beautiful, nature-rich planet. He doesn’t give them much direction, as is Yoda’s way, and tells them to trust in the Force and one another, much like he told Krrsish, and then he heads off to meditate. He knows while it’s important for Jedi to reconvene with the Force through nature, it’s hard to do so, even for him, while on the stuffy ecumenopolis of Coruscant, so he’s taking this trip as much for himself as he is for them. As Yoda goes off to do his thing, the Padawans wonder if they truly are alone or not, a hilarious dialogue exchange where one says they’ve heard the greatest Jedi don’t need a ship to travel via hyperspace, though Krrsish is too consumed by the feelings of fear his vision gives him to partake. Instead he asks Gheyr if they can chat alone, and good friend that she is, she agrees to hear him out as she can pick up on him being agitated. He begins to tell her about having visions and there being a danger…and then he straight up attacks her! He believes he has to act now, to stop whatever she’s going to do, that ends up with Wookiees and Transdoshans fighting, so he begins the fighting, and while she tries to throw him away, to assuage him of how she’s not a threat, he’s committed now…taking out and igniting his lightsaber! Like most Jedi with visions who we’ve had as characters, he’s self fulfilling the vision, igniting tensions between their two species, forcing her to take up her lightsaber if she hopes to defend herself from his attacks. I’ll be very interested to learn what all goes down next as I’m invested in the Padawans’ story…will Gheyr manage to make her friend see reason? Will Yoda step in? And no matter the outcome, what sort of chat about it all with Yoda and Dooku have afterwards?
Helping convey Krrsish’s torment over the visions is the returning art team of Luke Ross, Nolan Woodard on colors, and letterer Joe Caramagna. I can’t quite put my finger on who Ross seems to be referencing for Krrsish’s face, and he might not be referencing anyone, but to me I see hints of some actor’s face my mind quite find when I try to think about it. Regardless, it doesn’t matter much since whatever Ross is doing, it’s allowing him to play with a large range of emotions for a Wookiee on top of Krrsish often being hunched over, long hair dangling in defeat, while Caramagna, who is no stranger to Wookiees over his long Star Wars lettering career (especially in the Wookiee-centric Han Solo & Chewbacca #4), finds the growing unease of Krrsish via bubble breaking Shyriiwook growls and howls, going extra large as the visions jolt him awake or as he brandishes his saber against Gheyr. Woodard’s coloring for the vision, this shocking, bright red, makes them feel sudden, feel violent, and making them almost uncomfortable to look at, much like it must feel for the Wookiee Padawan, while Corvair II’s pleasant hues of purples, blues, and pinks is consumed by striking oranges and reds, emulating Krrsish’s anger and suffocating fear as he attacks his friend Gheyr. It’s a big team effort to convey Krrsish’s struggles and this art team pulls it off in spades, showing how easily it can be done to make non-human protagonists as engaging as the franchise’s human-heavy focus. I not only appreciate the opening sequence since it helps build up Yoda’s fun little revelation of having good relations with the Wookiees, but there’s a great range of emotions on Yoda’s face as he takes in the massacre of a battle between the Wookiees and Trandoshans to the excitement he has seeing the baby Gheyr (who reminds me of the baby from the Dinosaurs show, which if you don’t know about it, enjoy knowing you’re younger than me!), where his more playful side comes out interacting with the little one. There’s a somber yet pleasant color to these scenes, fitting for both the battle that took place yet the young life the Wookiees found and offer to Yoda to take to the Temple, while Caramagna’s lettering produces cute looking dialogue for Gheyr baby noises.
Here are a few other things:
- As I mentioned last review, Gheyr graces the Women’s History Month cover for the series, as seen above!
- June 2023’s solicitations dropped last week and revealed Yoda and Anakin will be fighting….Megadroids in this series’ 8th issue. That’s a name as Star Wars as it gets! And it’ll reveals the next arc ties into the Revelations one-shot, as Anakin and Yoda starred in one brief part but at the time we didn’t know this series would have the two together!
Yoda #5 pits the teachings of Yoda and Dooku against one another through the struggles of a close group of Padawans and one young Wookiee’s growing, dark visions in another entertaining issue which leaves me eager to see how it all ends.
+ Dueling teachers
+ Engaging characters
+ Art brings Krrsish’s struggle to life
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
YODA MAXISERIES REVIEWS
Light and Life: #1 | #2 | #3 — Students of the Force: #4